[Spencer]

Hello fellow members,

Looking for advice from you guys before making my first purchase on the Mazda . The range of years I am interested in is 2017 in particular and I want to know if there is anything or some things I should look at the car during my inspection. Of course, you have a lot of maintenance tips or important things to check when buying, so I wanted to create this thread to see if I could be of any help with that.


I have a 2017 Mazda 6 Touring in my sights and it is very nice. It has 35,912 miles . This car really fits my budget but I'm a little weary because it has a salvage title. My uncle said the rescue name was useless, but other friends said they would walk away from the deal. Let me share some thoughts, can I get your opinion on whether this is good or not? Is there anything I should check myself or have a mechanic check when checking this car? It says the front end is new, so I wonder if there is a way to see any previous damage or problems with the car. I love this model and I can not wait to buy at the end of this month because I am using the car now and it is not good! Please advise if you want to withdraw or talk to the seller about this, because for the price this is what I found to be clean.

Link to the ad: 2017 Mazda 6 Touring - cars & trucks - by dealer - vehicle...

 

[TalonTsi90]

Not for $13,500. Id want a list of what was replaced other than the shitty eBay headlights since its obvious the front end was whacked.

 

[jman]

Keep in mind that potential buyers are going to be asking the same questions whenever you decide to sell it, making it harder to do.
After looking a the type of damage it sustained and the asking price, it might be a good deal IF IT WAS PROPERLY REPAIRED.
Car was a daily rental, got whacked on the front left side, no apparent displacement of the tire but hard to know. Air bags were not deployed which is good.
So, you need to inspect the front left end of the chassis for any damage. I doubt they replaced it but look for the OEM sealant. I'd verify the diagonal measurements and verify the gap of the driver's door and other panels.

 

[tickerguy]

IMHO its priced too high given a salvage title fixed properly or not. The usual reason for a salvage title if the airbags did not go off is that the PROPER repair bill was more than half the current book value of the vehicle. You need to know who fixed it and what documentation they can provide to you on the tear-down when it was being fixed and exactly what was fixed and with what. If you can't get that, and you usually can't in any sort of auction format -- not for that money.

I can look at a repaired car, get under it and tell you if anything grossly stupid was done and sometimes can see where the damage was. The problem is that typically some of the places where there was damage are not observable with the panels back on thus such an inspection is not dispositive, no matter who does it. You can catch garbage work but not always know it wasn't unless you have that documentation.

 

[jman]

From what I could find, a 2017 GT with that mileage is around $18-20K so, IMO, the price is not bad for those that don't mind the title issue.
When I was looking to buy my daughter's 2014, I came across 3 M6's with salvage titles or accidents reported in their Carfax and I passed on all of them. Even if fixed properly, I didn't want the hassle when the time came to sell it.

 

[tickerguy]

That's the problem -- a salvage title means its resale value is HALVED from not having one most of the time. A dealer won't put that car on the used lot so it goes to auction and whatever it gets, it gets. Which isn't nearly what a non-salvage one gets.

 

[Spencer]

Hey guys thanks for all of your suggestion and replies, @jman I could've look at your replies before! haha. My friend recommend me a website, and I already purchased the car report from Lookup any vehicle in seconds for accidents, service history and more!, I got it for a good really good deal (purchased the report with window sticker for only $15). The car was sold for $6800 and the damage doesn't seems too serious to be worried but, I will probably sell it in the future, and I don't want any hassle when I want to sell it. Thanks for all of your concerned.

Car report link: Vehicle History Report for VIN: JM1GL1V56H1155979
Window sticker: mazda window sticker